Beautifully Brilliant
by 3DPhantom
Summary: Robin is kidnapped once again by the notorious Lex Luthor, who still plans to exploit Robin's brilliant inventive abilities. This time more pawns are involved, and the Justice League is in danger as the Watchtower is compromised. (Sequel to Genuine Genius; reading the 1st isn't mandatory. Bad summary; good enough story? Rated T for child abuse and violence; somewhat mild.)
1. Chapter 1: System Failure

**A/N:** ** _Luizals_** **requested that I do a sequel to Genuine Genius back in January of 2014. I got a Guest review 11 days ago that reminded me that I had a half-written sequel stored somewhere in my One Drive. I tracked it down and was like, "eh, what the heck? I'll stat posting it and continue writing as it goes along."**

 **Dickie-Bird is ten in this one. It's set a little over a year after the end of Genuine Genius. If you haven't read Genuine Genius, I suggest you do, but I think you can manage without reading it.**

 **Did you know that if you look up synonyms for "Boy Wonder" you get "Genius"? And if you look up a synonym for "Genius" you get "Brilliance"? I didn't! (P.S. I'm not in love with this story title, so if you have any title ideas with alliteration that mimic the title "Genuine Genius," I'd love to hear them.)**

 **Anyways, enjoy! I don't own anything DC Universe! I hope you like it, and please review!**

 **Chapter One: System Failure**

 **^Bruce's POV^**

I quietly stepped into my ward's bedroom. It was 4:30 in the morning, but the Watchtower's computer system had some kind of bug in it, and Richard was the only one who could fix it, since he was the one who created it and all.

As lightly as I could I shook the boy's shoulder. He moaned, turned onto his other side, and continued to sleep peacefully. I tried a little harder, this time calling out to the young boy.

"Dickie, c'mon, wake up buddy." Dick groaned and once again turned.

"Bruce, I'm tired. I thought we already finished patrol for the night. Like, two hours ago!" I nodded.

"We did, but I need you in the Watchtower." At that, Dick suddenly bolted upright in his bed.

"The Watchtower?" He asked with worry shining in his bright blue eyes. I chuckled. I always thought it was funny that Dick found such pride in his creations. It was something to be proud of, that was for sure, but still, it was humorous how much the boy cared when one of his inventions suddenly stopped working correctly. It was always like a piece of him, and if it stopped functioning he also couldn't function until it was fixed. Especially the Watchtower which has so far been his greatest creation. The boy practically jumped out of his bed and ran with me down to the cave.

"So what's wrong with it?" The ten year old boy asked, worry clearly present in his tone of voice.

"We don't know. Something in the systems." Dick seemed to consider this for a moment.

"The systems huh? I made an update to the systems five weeks ago. Why would it start having problems now? It's a new enough system that it shouldn't be having problems, and it's been in place long enough that all the bugs have been worked out for several weeks. There shouldn't be a problem!" He sounded almost angry now as he emerged from the cave changing rooms, his domino mask plastered to his face and his cape flowing out behind him with small flapping noises as he stormed towards the Zeta tubes.

"Did someone do something to it?" He asked, turning to look at me with a glare. "You didn't try to update the systems yourself, did you? Because Batman, I thought we already agreed that your 'updates' couldn't compare to my systems."

"I didn't touch it," I told him, annoyance slipping into my voice. At one point about half a year ago I'd gotten jealous that my protégé seemed to be so much better at inventing extraordinary pieces of technology and was somehow better with all computer systems of the world than I was. The only computer I was better at was the Pack-Man console I kept in my office at Wayne Towers, and he quickly surpassed me in skill there as well. I could guarantee that he was so much better with technology because I let him hang out with Lucius too much. Lucius had always been my inventor, the one who I went to when I needed a new toy. Letting Dick play with him in the labs quickly turned into Richard being just as good of an inventor as Lucius, if not better. The other scientists that hung around the lab loved the kid too, and often helped him learn everything that they were specialized in as well.

Basically though, when I got a bit jealous a few months ago, I tried to work on the Watchtower computer systems myself, to prove that I was as tech savvy as Robin was. The results were disastrous.

Robin pulled me from my thoughts with another question as we materialized in the space station. "Was it Flash then? Did he download another game made in China?" Flash had once downloaded a game that China had made to hack into American systems whenever it was downloaded. Instead some Chinese somewhere were surprised to find they had accessed some space station they hadn't known existed. We got them put in jail and Robin purged the systems until the spyware was gone.

"No, I don't think it was Flash," I said just as a red blur streaked by and stopped behind us. The two of us turned to face the scarlet speedster.

"You don't think what was me? Because I swear I didn't do anything this time! Unless you're referring to… um, never mind, what is it?" Flash rambled at high speeds for a few more seconds before being silenced by my signature Bat-glare and a miniature version from my partner.

"The systems," Robin stated simply.

"Oh yeah, it's totally out of whack. I tried to use the elevator, and it took me to the opposite side of the tower! What gives?!" His high-speed rambling was once again silenced by a Bat-glare and a half.

Robin turned on his heels and stormed towards the central control before changing his mind and heading to the computer room.

"So elevator lifts are effected too? What else has been happening?"

"Well, doors open and close whenever they feel like. The shower water changes temperatures faster than even I can step out of the shower, and so does the room temperatures. One room will be impossibly hot and another below freezing! And when I go to the kitchen, the appliances are going crazy!" Robin considered the speedster's words carefully.

"Hmm… okay, so what about those who work in central control and monitor the station and news channels, the frequencies and stuff. How have the monitors and data bases been responding?" Robin cocked an eyebrow my way.

"Not good," Is all I say in response to his question. He rolls his eyes under the mask.

"I'll ask the Martian. He had watch this week, right?" I glare at him a little. He technically isn't supposed to know such things, but I push the thought aside for later. "Flash, can you go get J'onn? Tell him to meet me in the computer room in five, if he can." Flash nodded, said something too fast for me to understand, and sped away.

Robin stepped into the computer room and began searching through the systems on a touch console. He stepped over to a keyboard and typed away for a few minutes before pulling up holographic screens that held lines of computer coding. It reminded me of the Matrix, different numbers and characters flashing by at high speeds.

"The system controls are all jacked up too. It makes it much harder to search what I'd like. It reminds me of the time I took all the plastic keys off of your secretary's work computer keyboard and rearranged them anywhere they would fit. When your secretary came in she was so confused she called maintenance and the guy that came just kind of stared at the keyboard for a while. I thought it was funny then, but having it happen to my computer systems doesn't have very much appeal to it." He scoffed and continued to type, an angry frown slowly growing more intense on his face.

After a few more minutes and my partner becoming completely pissed off, the Martian finally arrived.

"Robin, the Flash told me you requested my presence," J'onn said politely as he fazed through the wall and landed on the ground besides Robin. The alien took one look at Robin and became worried. "Is everything alright? You are angry."

 _'Isn't that kind of obvious?'_ I thought to myself. Leave it to Martian Manhunter to point out the obvious.

"Yeah, fine, it's just my systems are totally screwed up, and It's really frustrating. What kind of disturbances have you been seeing in central control?"

J'onn considered for a moment. "Well, I suppose that sometimes while attempting to access files they do not open, but if I wait a few minutes and try again, they are once again accessible." Robin nodded.

"That's… strange." A contemplative look crossed his face as he concentrated, his mind no doubt going through all the possible causes.

"What kind of files where you looking at when this happened?" I asked, trying to get a hold on what all was affected.

"The camera feeds, Zeta beam activation records, and I believe one personnel file."

"Who's?" Robin asked for me, still typing on the holographic keyboards.

"I believe it was yours, Robin. When personnel transport to the tower, their folder is to be automatically checked each time. Batman's opened without trouble, but yours did not respond." Robin stopped typing for a moment, Martian's words and pictures on the screen making something click in his mind.

"The blueprints have been accessed," Robin stated with concern. "Have you opened that file Martian? Only those with really high access can look at the blueprints I keep stored here."

J'onn shook his head. "I have not accessed those files recently."

"Neither have I," I said. "The only four with access to them are the three of us and Superman." Robin nodded and typed on the holograms again. A radio wave was activated and soon Superman appeared on the screen.

"Robin? Why are you calling me, and from the tower of all places?" He sounded a little angry to be bothered by a child. I stepped forward to stand by Robin.

"Clark, have you accessed the blueprint files held in the Watchtower systems any time recently?" I asked in place of my partner. Superman was a big Boy Scout, but when it came to children he often became annoyed quickly. I've never liked the tone he used towards Robin. Sometimes they got along, but usually it sounded like Clark was scolding him without just cause. I wasn't worried about it, I just don't like it.

Superman sat back a little in whatever chair he was in, regaining a bit of his professionalism after seeing I was around. "No, I haven't accessed any of the Watchtower's files in over a week. It's Martian's week to watch the base, so I haven't been there much. Especially not in the files. Why?"

I nodded my thanks, then went to shut off the feed before Robin stopped me. I looked at my partner and was concerned to see that he had palled a considerable amount.

"Robin, is something wrong?" J'onn asked for me, worry evident in his voice. Superman leaned forward in his chair, also becoming a little concerned.

"I…" Robin started, but paused to take a breath before continuing. "I, think the Watchtower's systems have been infiltrated purposefully." He said, still looking uneasy.

"By who?" Superman demanded. Robin looked up at the screen which Clark was glaring down at him from.

By speaking one name, Robin changed the entire focus of all present.

"Lex Luthor."

 **A/N: Duh du DUHN! So yeah, Lex is trying to get Robin again. For those of you who don't know about the first time he kidnapped Robin, you should read the first story in this series, Genuine Genius. This is the sequel, like I've said before. No, you don't HAVE to read the first one, but it could help.**

 **Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter!**

 **PLEASE REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2: Under Pressure

**Chapter Two: Under Pressure**

 **A/N: Sorry it's been a little while. I had surgery… and a national competition. Made it to semi-finals. Yay…**

 **Well, enjoy. And please review!**

Batman looked at his partner with worry that only the Boy Wonder could see.

"Why would you say that? How do you know?!" Superman demanded. "Are you sure?"

Robin nodded solemnly. "Y-yeah, I'm sure. Only Luthor would have the technology to cause so much damage to the systems. Plus, the files that become inaccessible at times. We can't open them whenever Luthor is already looking at them. He has that set in place so that none of us would notice there was another person looking through our systems, and so we wouldn't catch him making changes. And there's a pattern in which files were accessed. Camera feeds, to spy on us. Zeta to keep track of which of us are coming and going. And then there's the blueprints and my personnel file."

"Do you think he's coming after you again?" J'onn asked.

"It's possible," Batman responded. Only Robin noticed his ever-so-slight shift in discomfort at the thought of his bird being targeted again by the powerful criminal Lex Luthor.

"I know he is," Robin confirmed. Everyone looked at him.

"How do you know? Do you have proof?" Superman asked. Robin nodded.

"I gathered all of the individual changes made to files and arranged them in order from oldest to most recent. He left a message for me."

"What does it say?" The Dark Night asked.

 _"Quos aut Tu velim cures iubere quidquid erit, pati."_ Robin said. Batman nodded while the other two heroes stared blankly. Batman translated for them.

"You will create all that I desire…" Batman paused momentarily to stare sadly at his partner, "or the ones you care for will suffer."

Robin and Batman stared into each other's eyes for a full ten seconds, silent conversation seeming to pass between the two before Batman nodded.

"We need to evacuate the Watchtower," Batman ordered. "Now!"

Before anything could be done, the tower shifted. The two heroes in the room stumbled, but did not fall. Batman caught his young partner by the arm before he could hit the floor. Superman disappeared from the screen and flew to the nearest Zeta beam to him before teleporting to the Watchtower. No sooner than he had teleported onto the tower did the power to the station shut down, only the emergency environmental control still having any amount of power. Dim emergency lights lit the halls of the station.

Batman, Martian Manhunter, and Robin all stepped out into the hall just as Flash and Superman came speeding towards them. Flash started worrying at high speeds about what would happen if the gravity shut off, or if the thrusters stopped working, and a million other things.

"Flash," Robin said, trying not to sound angry… or scared. "Flash, just calm down. The gravity's not controlled by the system, it's naturally caused by the orbiting of the station around the Earth. And the thrusters aren't required to maintain orbit. I built the station better than that, Flash. The emergency systems should keep the oxygen circulating. But, the system doesn't have much control right now, so not all the usual safety protocols will be activated. I can already tell that it doesn't have enough power to keep the Zeta beams functional, and the environmental control isn't regulating temperatures. I need to make an announcement to everyone on the station, but the intercom isn't working so Flash, I need you to gather everyone in the station into the center and get a head count."

"Right," Flash said. "I'll have them all there in five minutes, tops." Robin nods and starts walking down the hall towards the center of the station. The center is where the Zeta beams are, it's the largest open space in the whole station. Robin is followed by Batman, Martian Manhunter, and Superman to a terrace overlooking where other League members are now gathering.

Flash suddenly appears at their sides and reports to Robin while Superman glares down at the little bird.

"There are 72 people here buddy, including you and the workers." Robin nodded.

"So is the kid in charge now?" Superman asked. Batman had undermined the big blue Boy Scout on more than one occasion, and that was fine (or at least acceptable, but only because there was nothing Superman could do about it) but now his sidekick was in charge?!

Robin looked up at him in surprise. "No, I… I just needed to… I mean. I just need to make a few announcements. Some areas of the Watchtower won't be safe to go to anymore. I just needed to tell them…"

"Robin," Batman said, stopping the stuttering boy. "As much as some of us may hate to admit it, you know more about the tower than any of us."

Flash nodded. "Yeah, I don't see what the problem is. I mean, sure it's a little weird to think that the kid is in charge of all us super-powered adults… and the workers who are just here to maintain the tower… and Batman, no offence," Batman glared at the speedster. "But anyways, I still don't see what the real problem is! Supes can just get over it." Now there were two people glaring at the speedster as Superman looked ready to melt him with laser vision.

Robin looked to Batman, a conversation once again passing silently between them.

 _"Batman, I don't think I can do this,"_ Robin said silently to Batman.

 _"You're scared."_ It was just a silent statement, and one that didn't calm Robin's nerves at all.

With a glare Robin conveyed to him _"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be? I mean, I only have to try and tell all these superheroes what to do. And what if they don't listen to me? If I can't make them listen? Some of them could die!"_ Robin glanced nervously at the crowd below him, a glance that didn't go unnoticed by the other heroes in the immediate vicinity. The crowd below had started mumbling a few minutes ago, and by now some were calling out and wondering when someone was going to say anything, and what was going to be done.

 _"You can do it,"_ Batman conveyed by stepping over to stand by Robin. This pulled Robin's attention back to his mentor. _"I'll help you. I won't leave your side."_

Robin looked at him, still with great uneasiness. Slowly, he took a few deep breaths before walking over to the edge of the platform where he and the four heroes had been standing. Batman stood closely by his partner. Quickly catching on, Flash and Martian Manhunter came and stood closely on the other side of the youngest known hero on the planet, or… in space. Superman stood off to the side more, not close to the others as much. He crossed his arms over his chest. It's not that he didn't care about the kid, he was a good young boy, but the idea of him being in charge was preposterous. Ludicrous! It was plain out ridiculous in Superman's eyes. What could that kid do that Superman couldn't?

The crowd below grew quiet, their eyes automatically falling on Batman, expecting him to step forward, in front of the others, and then to make any required announcements. Robin stood as tall as he could before stepping forward.

There was a moment of stunned silence before giggles and full-out laughing filled the room. It lasted less than a moment though.

"Silence!" Demanded both Batman verbally in a deep strong voice and Martian Manhunter telepathically, making the word echo within each of their individual minds. Batman continued to speak.

"Many of you do not know this, but Robin is the creator of the Watchtower. This is classified information. The Watchtower's systems have been compromised by the enemy, so there is none more qualified to guide us in this situation than my partner. If any of you know every secret to this station that there is to know, then speak up and you can take charge." The room was so quiet that you could almost hear planes flying in the atmosphere of the planet below them. No one seemed to want to stand against the Dark Knight's partner now in fear of the Batman himself turning on them. Not to mention the Martian and other heroes by the boy's side, though Superman looked unpleased as well. Still, he stood with Robin for now, and that was what really mattered.

Robin nodded his head slightly, more to clear it then to acknowledge their cooperation. With that, Robin tried to speak with as much clarity and force in his voice as possible.

"The Watchtower's emergency systems will do everything they can to stabilize the environment, but temperature control is offline. It's inadvisable to go anywhere alone. The temperatures will be well below zero. At no point can anyone touch the outermost walls of the station. While in the shade of the Earth the metal will be below negative one-hundred degrees Celsius, so if you touch it the skin that makes contact with the metal will stick there and die. You'll most likely lose your hand. The same can be said for while the station is in direct sunlight. If you touch the metal it will be hot enough to fry the nerves through at least your fingers." The people below were looking uneasily around, but Robin continued while he still had the momentum to speak. So far, it was going well enough. After he broke the initial nerves he found it easier to speak with confidence. If he stopped now, he might get scared again, so instead he continued.

"No one can try to leave via escape pods or ships. The Watchtower won't open the hanger doors, and if you were to open them all Oxygen in the station would be sucked out. The emergency systems wouldn't be able to close the appropriate doors needed to seal the Oxygen in, and there aren't enough escape routes for everyone to go at once. We'll have to leave through the Zeta tubes once I have them operational, or else people will be left behind and we can't allow that. Also, the reactor is now off limits. It's still running as far as I can tell, but without room-control to regulate the temperature of the air around it, it will be too hot to enter the room. The average human would pass out from the initial shock of the heat wave and would suffocate and die if not removed from the room within a few short minutes. Even so, they would have intense burning on the skin and the hot air within their lungs can cause irreparable damage." Robin paused, taking quick note of the few people in the room who were shrugging as if all of this was below them.

"Listen, I know that some of you have powers, but remember that most of them are specific, and they don't make you immune. Some of you may have specific powers that will protect you from the heat, or the cold, but it's never wrong to take precautions. I'll locate the source of the problem as soon as I can, starting with getting the Zeta beams operational. As soon as I do, you can all leave and go back to being in charge." A few people below murmured, but initially all of them agreed, especially the human workers. Robin nodded, signaling that he was done and stepped back to stand beside his mentor, strongly resisting the urge to hide behind him.

Batman glanced at his partner for a brief moment before saying simply "Dismissed," to the crowd of people below. Some of them dispersed, particularly the heroes, but most of the workers remained there in the center where they knew it was the safest. A few of the smarter and older members of the League also remained, knowing that when I higher up told you to stay together, you should. Even if the higher up happened to be a child, they supposed.

Robin sighed heavily and turned to walk away from the edge and the watching eyes of the people below. Batman followed his partner and placed a reassuring hand on his protégé's shoulder. It silently conveyed that he thought Robin had done exceptionally. The ten year old boy sent him a grateful sideways smile. "Thanks Batman," he said simply, leaving the other four heroes to wonder what pieces of conversation they had missed.

"So where do you want to start?" Batman asked. Robin chuckled nervously.

"Eh, actually, I was going to start at the reactor." Flash looked at him like he was insane.

"The reactor?! Didn't you just say that place was dangerous and off limits?!" Flash asked with fear in his voice. The way the kid had described it, it sounded like the reactor could easily kill him, and a boy this small would quickly suffocate in the smoldering heat of the reactor room air.

"There are emergency suits here in the station. I can just wear one of those, it should protect me from the heat. It'll be a little big, but I can manage." Now the others were getting worried too.

"Should?" Batman asked, stepping in front of his partner to make the boy stop in his tracks.

"Yeah, I mean, it should. Theoretically. The material hasn't been tested to touching metal that hot before, but theoretically it was designed to touch hotter so…" Batman stopped him with a single word.

"No."

"But Batman, if I can manually override the emergency lock outs I can get the power back to the whole station! Or at least direct the emergency power supply to the Zeta beams! Right now the emergency systems are keeping the reactor from letting the power go to the systems, but if it can be overridden…"

"No," Batman said once again. "Find another way. Someone else can do it."

"But I'm the only one who knows how to…" by now it was an argument between Bruce and his ward.

"You can guide someone else. Tell them how to do it. Tell me and I'll do it." Bruce said, glaring at his ward as if to will him not to argue. Dick gulped, but persisted.

"It's hard to explain. Besides, you'd be in just as much danger as me. There's no one on the station who's immune to heat that intense." Richard said, slightly fearful of how his mentor would react to his persisting.

Before Batman could reply another voice cut in.

"Couldn't I do it?" Superman suddenly asked, looking between the two. Batman looked down at Robin who smiled and laughed sheepishly.

"Well… it's just that…" Martian Manhunter cut Robin off with an observation.

"You were too afraid to ask him." Robin looked up at J'onn and nervously rubbed at the back of his neck.

"You were more afraid to ask me to do it then you were to go into a burning room yourself?" Superman asked in surprise. Robin laughed half-heartedly again. The adults all glared down at him.

"Well, you would have been angry if I'd asked, wouldn't you?" Robin snapped up at Superman almost accusingly. The boy began to walk away in frustration. "I mean, if I were to ask you to do it you would get mad, but then, apparently, I go to do it myself and you are all angry at me!" Robin stopped and faced the wall, his arms crossed tightly against his chest.

Batman glanced at the other heroes, each of them looking at him while wondering what exactly had just happened to the youngest hero. Never before has the young one _ever_ yelled at one of the older heroes, nor has he ever gotten truly angry at them, at least not enough to cause an outburst like that.

Batman sighed and came to stand directly behind his adopted son.

"Dick, I know we're putting a lot of pressure on you," he said. Richard jumped a little at hearing his real name instead of his heroic one, but it also calmed his nerves a bit. For now, he was hearing Bruce's voice, not Batman's. "It's stressful, and scary, and you've never had so many peoples' lives in your hands before. And other heroes' lives too." He paused, sensing that his boy was starting to feel the stress return. He quickly moved on to the better part of what he had to say.

"Richard, I know you can do it. We'll be here to help you every step of the way. All you have to do is ask." Dick smiled a little, his breathing much calmer. He turned and hugged Bruce for a moment before pulling away. He turned to the others.

"I-I'm okay. Sorry for, you know, freaking out." He smiled shyly. Flash zipped up to him.

"It's okay little buddy. We understand. Heck, I don't think I could do it if I was in your little shoes!" Flash said.

"That's just because you have the IQ of a doorknob," Superman said teasingly. Flash looked at him in mock hurt.

"I do not! I happen to be a brilliant scientist!" The two started arguing while J'onn wondered who the real child here was.

Dick smiled. Maybe this wouldn't be impossible.

 **A/N: Hope you guys liked it.**

 **PLEASE REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3: MIA

**Chapter Three: MIA**

 **A/N: Hello! Sorry it's been a while! I hope it was worth the wait! Also, if you care to notice, this story now has a new title; "Beautifully Brilliant." I personally like it better than the old title; "Brilliant Boy," so thanks to ArtemisCrock73 for the new title suggestion!**

 **Oh, and if you don't know, MIA is short for "Missing In Action." It's a military term. X)**

 **Well, I hope you guys enjoy! Please review when you're done reading!**

"Okay Superman, I'm going to instruct you on how to do this as we go along. I'll keep it as simple as I can," Robin said through his earpiece. Superman was wearing a special earpiece that Robin had made at last-minute to withstand the high temperatures of the reactor room. Superman was now opening the large metal door which moved easily under his super strength. Meanwhile, Robin opened up some blueprints that he'd found in the file room where they kept hard-copies of a lot of the digital files they kept, and hard copies of all the blueprints and maintenance instructions on the Watchtower systems and such. Robin had pulled out everything he could find on the Watchtower reactor, particularly on its backup systems and power diversion routs. He'd found a way to trick the reactor into sending power to the Zeta beams by making it believe that they were the emergency life-support systems. The components of the Watchtower had intelligence. Not intelligence that allowed it to talk to the occupants or anything, just complex sets of priorities. No matter what happened, there was programing in place that made the systems work together to do everything they could to sustain life during emergency states. If the Watchtower thought that keeping life-support on was more important than the Zeta tubes, then it was working properly. But in this situation, escaping was more objective, so he'd just have to trick the systems. It wouldn't be too hard, really.

"Alright," Robin said, looking between fifteen different blueprints that he'd laid out around the room he was in. "What you need to do is..."

Superman waited patiently for Robin to continue. After ten long seconds he radioed Robin. "Uh, Robin? What do I do again?" There was no response.

Suddenly, Batman's earpiece became active and he spoke to Superman. Batman had been in the room with Robin, but now he had found himself alone.

"Superman, Robin's gone." Superman made a look of questioning that only he could see.

"Gone, what do you mean gone?"

Batman contacted Flash and Martian Manhunter. "Robin was just teleported out of the Watchtower by a targeted Zeta beam. I have a good guess as to who's taken him."

"Do you believe it was Luthor?" J'onn asked. Batman grunted confirmation.

"So," Flash wondered, "What do we do now? Robin was the only one who knew what to do! He's the only one who can get us out! Does anyone know what he was trying to do?" Flash asked.

Batman grunted again. "No. But all of the required blueprints to do it are here."

"But to do what?!" Superman asked, stepping out of the reactor room and closing the large metal door.

Batman was silent for a moment. "I don't know. But whatever he was attempting to do in order to get the Zeta beams operational, we have to figure it out quickly and get back to Earth. If Lex has Robin then we don't have long before…" Batman stopped, not really wanting to finish that sentence. "He's probably using everyone in the station as hostages. If Luthor is in control of the Watchtower, than we're all at his disposal. No doubt Robin knew the moment he read the message that 'the ones he cares for' means everyone in the Watchtower. We have to escape." The other three heroes nodded.

"Batman, you are the only one who has a chance of sorting out what Robin was attempting by these blueprints. Are you confident you can figure it out?" Martian Manhunter asked. Batman looked at him, the Martian not seeing, but sensing the worry behind Batman's cowl.

"I have to."

 **(*) Down on Earth (*)**

Robin was staring down at a blueprint in his hand one second, and the next thing he knew there was a quick flash of light and the blueprint was gone. He assumed at first that Flash had sped by and snatched it out of his hands in a blur.

"Flash, I don't have time to screw around, now give it back," the ten year old said before looking up. He was taken aback as he looked around and saw no familiar environment.

"Batman?" He called out, slightly afraid now because he was standing in an unfamiliar place and because he was supposed to be saving the lives of the people on the Watchtower, not standing in a plain gray room, the only piece of furniture or color being a bed with a red comforter on it.

When Batman was nowhere in sight, Robin tried his earpiece. "Batman? Superman? Anyone? Are you guys there? Hello?!" He was getting a little panicky now. None of them were responding. Where were they? Or, perhaps he should be asking where he himself was.

Robin saw two doors in this room, both metal and on opposite walls. One was ten paces to his right, the other ten to his left. He ran to the one at his left first. He pulled at it, not at all surprised to find it locked. He was surprised, however, to find that there was no key hole to try and pick the lock. The door must only lock from the outside… great. He twisted the metal doorknob a few more times, testing to see if maybe he could get it off and get to the lock working gears behind it. The knob was sealed onto the door tightly, it wouldn't give way to any of his toys, so Robin tried the other door.

It was just like the first except for one crucial thing. It was _unlocked_.

Robin twisted the knob and flung the door open in a rush to get back to Batman and the others in the Watchtower. What he saw was unsettling though. Before him was simply another room, no other doors or exists possible. What there was were _people_. Some were only children, the youngest looking to be about seven years old. The next child was perhaps just a year or two older than the first, and the third was a teenager older than Robin himself, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old. The seven year old was the only girl of the three minors there, all of them in cages no larger than dog crates. The other five people were adults; two men and three woman. One man was in his thirties or so while the other was old, well past forty and looking extremely uncomfortable. The adults were all chained in a standing position to the wall, and the way most of them slouched and hung by their chains it seemed they'd been here for at least several hours.

The second thing Robin saw in the room was lab equipment and metal tables, but that didn't matter so much right now. Putting everything else aside, Robin ran over to the people and began to unlock the younger man's restraints. If guards were to come in, it would be best to have the man ready to fight with him if he could.

"Don't worry, I'll get all of you out of here," Robin promised, mostly to the two younger children who were crying. Robin had just gotten the man's left hand free when the door Robin had come through shut closed.

Robin turned around, startled by the noise. He immediately took up a fighting stance. It was too bad he'd only been able to free the man's left arm, he wouldn't be able to aid in fighting much that way.

Robin's eyes widened as he saw who had come through the door and shut it. Before him, just across the room, stood Sportsmaster. He was definitely someone to be careful about. He and Batman had only gone against Sportsmaster once, and he had been really hard to take down, even though it was just him against the Dynamic Duo. Robin had still been new to the hero business, and the main reason Batman had trouble taking Sportsmaster down had been because Robin had been caught and used as a hostage. In a one-on-one fight, Batman would beat Sportsmaster, though it would still prove difficult. But Robin against the well-built and trained man? Robin didn't think he stood a chance. He was only ten, after all.

Still, like the brave kid he tended to be, Robin wasn't going to just give in. He couldn't fail too miserably, right? I mean, he was still trained by the Dark Knight himself. In Robin's mind, he could do almost anything! Almost…

Sportsmaster was a bad guy, so Robin saw no point in talking to him. Instead, the boy rushed forward, and attempted to kick the man in the stomach. Before anyone had even understood what happened, Robin was suddenly pushed against the wall, his arm being twisted painfully behind his back. He let out a yelp of pain as he was slammed against the wall and his arm was bent into an uncomfortable position. Sportsmaster scoffed down at him.

"Please kid, don't lie to yourself. I'm way above your level, so don't even try to fight me." In this whole time Sportsmaster had only used one arm, the other being held behind his back. He had literally taken the young hero down with one arm in less than a second. Robin didn't want to know what it felt like to be taken down with both arms.

Sports master let Robin go and he slumped away from the wall, cradling his hurting right arm for a moment and letting out a small sigh of relief. A sudden voice sounded by Sportsmaster's side.

"I told you not to damage him. If you had broken his arm, how would he have drawn up the blueprints?" That almost made Robin wish his arm had been broken… almost.

Robin turned to look at who had spoken. It was Lex Luthor, of course, who had apparently walked into the room while Robin was painfully pinned against the wall.

"I didn't leave any damage," Sportsmaster assured. "His arm is fine. Can't say the same for his pride though." Robin glared at the man, but looked hopelessly like a pouting child to the two older men. At that, Lex snickered.

"Come now, Robin. Ensure that you don't cause any problems. Remember that there are hostages involved. Robin looked to the people restrained against the wall and the children in cages. "No, not them," Lex said, anger seeping into his voice. "Those are the hostages Sportsmaster brought. He'll do whatever he wants to them if he feels you are being uncooperative. Sportsmaster seems to think that promising death to your friends in the space station isn't enough. He thought that you'd have to actually see some people get hurt to for you to believe that we are serious. Whatever he does to them does not fall on me. However, what happens to Batman and the other hero friends of yours is completely up to me, so you will do what I say." Robin glared up at him again.

"And what if I refuse?" Robin asked, defiance radiating from the boy. He had no intention of doing what this man wanted, especially if it was anything like last time. Last time Luthor had wanted him to design weapons of mass destruction. And Robin was never going to do that.

Sportsmaster glared down at Robin, the boy's defiance clear as day. Because of that, Sportsmaster pulled out a gun and pointed it at the boy. The young hero turned his glare on Sportsmaster now. Robin knew he wouldn't be shot because Lex still wanted Robin's genius designs. He wouldn't let Sportsmaster shoot him and risk the boy's life.

What Robin wasn't expecting though was for Sportsmaster to suddenly point the gun in a different direction and pull the trigger. Robin's eyes widened in horror and he tried to tackle the villain, but it was too late. The shot rang out, echoing in the enclosed room. Robin let out a short call of horror as he watched the old man chained to the wall slump, red liquid erupting from the man's chest.

Robin ran over to the man, momentarily ignoring the screams and gasps from the other present hostages. Robin placed his fingers over the man's artery in his throat and waited for a pulse. There was nothing.

He was dead.

 **A/N: And with those intense words hanging dramatically in the air, I bid you adieu.**

 **Oh, and please review! Much appreciated! X)**


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